Hero of War
by Evelyn JD
Summary: Ulrich's about to become a soldier. On the way to the airport he hears a song which changes his mind.


**Hello, dear readers! **

**This is my first story, and it took me long enough to convince myself to put it here. I'm not native English speaker, I learned it at this site and so, I want to apologize for mistakes that I'm sure you'll find in this story. When you find them, please, let me know, so I can correct them and make my English better. I'd also want to ask you for a favor. Let me know what you think of this story, if you liked it or disliked it, and what exactly you liked/disliked in the story. I'd love to know what you think and I'm sure it will help me get better in writing. **

**This story was inspirited by song Hero of War by Rise Against. I heard it once in my brother's car and this story just came to my head and didn't want to go away. So, I hope you'll like it! **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Code Lyoko. This fiction was made just for fun.

**Characters:** Yumi Ishiyama, Mia Carmen Rodriguéz (OC), Ulrich Stern

**Paring:** Yumi/Ulrich

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** Ulrich's about to become a soldier. On the way to the airport he hears a song which changes his mind.

**Ulrichs POV**

* * *

One last time I checked my things to make sure I've got everything. As I stood at the front door to my flat, I couldn't help but felt something was not right. I always wanted to be a soldier, to be the one who saved lives and fought for his country. I was proud of my uniform and the flag I carried, I was proud of the ability to help my home. This war was something I waited for. I could be a hero, the real one, in a real world. Everyone would know me as the one who helped France, they would look up at me with respect. But that was not why I joined military at the first place.

The reason why I agreed to take place in this war was feeling of responsibility for safety of my beloved ones. I wanted to protect them, keep them away from any harm. Especially the love of my life. I did all of this because of a beautiful Japanese with black hair and dark eyes that looked like black when light fell on her face from the right angle. I wanted this country to be safe for her to live in, happily, with smile on her face. I wanted this country to by safe for her and for her children, so they wouldn't have to go fight and maybe die in the war. I wanted this to end so I could come to her and tell her how deep my feelings for her were. I was going to win this cursed war for Yumi Ishiyama.

"Are you ready, boy-o?" a girl that I was waiting for asked from behind my back. She was tall, slim, with dark-brown hair and brown-green eyes. Her face was stone-like, hardly showing any expression, her pointy little nose making her look somewhat cute in some situations. She was a pretty young woman and one of my friends – María Carmen Rodriguez, but we all called her Mia, as she insisted. I knew that if we called her by full name, she would tear us apart, limb by limb.

"I think so…" I said quietly. I knew I wanted to be a soldier, but right now, I would rather be a normal man making my way to Yumi's flat, to tell her how I feel about her. It was tearing my soul to keep it a secret from her for such a long time. I was in love with her for twelve years now and I hadn't said anything to her. We've been friends back in the high school and I secretly loved her even back then. When she graduated, year sooner than me and my other friends, I thought her university will keep us apart, until we forget each other, but that hadn't happen. We still were friends, still there for each other. I helped her through the stress from her exams, I helped her with studying as much as I could. In her twenty-five years, she became a doctor and one of the bests if I may say so. Nice and wise, beautiful, successful, she had everything she could ever want.

"Come on, Ulrich. It's not the end of the world," Mia said calmly, putting her hand on my shoulder. By that, I knew she was standing by my side and willing to help me in any way. This was important to her too, for some reason. I knew it because she called me by my name, no 'boy-o' or 'Samurai' or 'brave-one' or 'Romeo' or 'lover-boy'. She always had nicknames for all of us, and rarely called us by the name. If she did, it was serious. Odd was 'kitty-kitty' for her, sometimes she also called him a 'joker' or 'living-dead', but that was only when he put some prank on her. Jeremie was 'Einstein' or 'Genius'. I heard her call him 'Walking-Computer' once. She gave William name 'Black-Smoke', but she rather used names like 'jerk', 'dork' or 'stupid-piece-of-rats-shit'. There was a lot more nicknames for William, mostly curses, but sometimes she called him 'blacky' or 'tontito'. I knew it was Spanish, but I never knew what it meant. Aelita was 'Angel' for her. I never heard Mia call her some other name, except of her own. And at last, there were nicknames as 'Princess', 'Geisha', 'black-eyed', 'sis', 'Juliet' and 'sweetie', which all belonged to Yumi.

"It will be three years," I said. I took my bag in hand and looked at Mia, hoping to find some strength in her, as I always did when I was feeling low. She was the one person I could trust completely, with everything in my life, except of Yumi. And since I couldn't tell Japanese everything, I turned to Mia for help almost all the time. She was like my big sister, always protecting me, although she managed to look like she didn't. It was strange relationship of siblings between us, the one that promised never to be broken. If somebody told me that we will have something like this when I first met her, I would sent them to madhouse.

We found Mia in Lyoko, when we were seventeen. She was a program Tyron had developed to protect his supercomputer and Cortex from us. It was impossible to get rid of her in Lyoko and us all thanked gods above for her not being able to be in a real world. Tyron, however, wanted her to destroy our scanners and supercomputer and for that, she had to be materialized. He managed to re-create Scyphozoa on his own and send it to us. We all protected Aelita, thinking it wanted her memory again. But instead of her, Scyphozoa caught Yumi and stole some of her DNA code. Jeremie automatically devirtualizeted her, but the monster had a bit of her DNA code already. I don't know what happened then, I only know that Scyphozoa loaded Yumi's code into program and it made it possible for Mia to finally be materialized. But when she came to Earth, she was no longer in her 'I'll-bloody-murder-you' mood. Actually, she was helping us defeat Tyron. She became Yumi's friend in the process, since the two were almost the same, and then it was only a matter of time for her to become friends with all of us. It was Yumi who picked the name for her. She said her name should be Mia, because that means 'rebellion' and the program was kind of rebel when she turned her back to Tyron. Her last name was also picked by Yumi, but that was only because Mia liked Spanish language and she told Jeremie she wanted to be from Spain, even if it was only in her false documents, therefore Aelita changed her first name and she became María, in papers. The middle name was my job, I always liked the name Carmen, and it suited Mia, because of her aggression towards William. She really hated the boy back then.

"I know, but you'll be back. And then, everything will be all right, like you've never left. What do you know, maybe we won't even miss you," Mia remarked with smirk on her face and twinkle in her eye that told me she was just kidding. I smiled at that, knowing she would be the first one to miss me.

"Yeah, and when I come back you'll pretend you don't know me, right?"

"No, I would tell everyone that you're my younger brother and that you have tons of medals and scars that proves you are a hero," she smirked even wider, but then it turned into a small, honest smile. "You know, you don't have to do this. You already are a hero. You've saved the world from X.A.N.A. and from Tyron. You've saved Aelita, Odd, William, me, Jeremie and Yumi so many times I can't even count it."

"I know, but this is different," I argued. She was right, I knew she was, but I still wanted to make this world safe place for them, and if that meant going to war and die there, that's what I'll do.

"If you say so…" Mia shrugged, turning her back to front door of his flat. "Come on, plane won't wait for you."

With that, she stepped forward and I followed closely behind. She didn't say anything else, leaving me with my own thoughts. I was glad she did that, but I was also worried. This meant she wasn't all right with my decision and that she let me to think it over. So I did, for the last time, divining this into positive and negative parts, comparing them. It always was the same, when I did that, I convinced myself that going into the war was what I wanted the most. Then, I'll come back and go straight to Yumi to make her mine. I wanted to have a family with her, a big house with big garden, a boy with my hair and courage, who would protect his family, a little baby-girl who will be just like her mother, a big dog and maybe a black cat. I wanted my whole life to be with my beautiful Japanese doctor.

Mia was quiet for a really long time. She never was really talkative, she preferred actions over words, but this was odd even for her. She just drove the car, her face again expressionless, and her sunglasses on so I couldn't see into her eyes. It was making me uncomfortable, as if she silently reproached my actions. She turned the radio on, long while ago, but I noticed just when guitar started to play in a song I didn't know, but felt it was important to me to hear it.

I listened to the words like it was a spell. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't breathe. I knew it was my story, a story of war-hero who made a mistake, left everyone behind just for the fight for his country. I knew that it would happen to me, too. It almost made me cry right then and there, as I listened to the story. And when it ended, I looked at Mia, knowing just what I had to do.

"Turn around," I said firmly, looking right at her.

"What?" she asked, one eyebrow lifted so it was above the frame of her sunglasses.

"Turn around!"

"We still have a lot of time, you can make it to plane."

"I'm not going to take that flight; I'm not going to join this war."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

She smirked. It was small, almost invisible, but it was there and I could see it. She was finally satisfied with my decision.

"Where do you want to go, then?" she asked, that small smirk still on her face.

"You know that very well," I said with a smile on my own.

"Okay, than. Now, hold on tight, boy-o, and get ready for the ride of your life!" she said with that smirk of her even wider. She sped up, and then turned the car around so quickly I almost hit my head. I knew how she loved adrenalin and dangerous situations, and without fights in Lyoko she missed that. So she had to find something that could provide her enough adrenalin for her life, for example climbing, or breaking the rules of traffic. That's probably why she was in relationship with William, he gave her enough adrenalin and anger. Sometimes it was too much for my liking, but I kept quiet, for the fear that she would say something about my undying love for Yumi.

We were almost at the airport, when I told her to turn around and that was really long way to go from the town. Normally it's taking like half an hour to get from airport to the town, but with Mia's fast driving and her knowledge of her car's limits and shortcuts, we were at Yumi's flat in about fifteen minutes.

"Thanks, Mia," I said, smiling at her. "For everything."

"There's nothing to thank me for. Apart from the ride, but that's fine, I'm used to helping you all the time by now," she smirked, and even though I couldn't see her eyes, I knew there was that twinkle in them. "I promised Yumi to get here after I drive you to the airport, but I think she will enjoy your company more. So I'll come here for you tomorrow afternoon, okay?"

"Why? It's only five o'clock, I'll be ready to go home at nine this evening," I protested. I thought about what I could do with Yumi the whole time Mia will be gone and I felt blood rush to my face. And to my crotch, too. Mia was probably thinking the same, I knew her perverse mind wouldn't let her to think about something else too long and she always had that remarks with two meanings.

"Trust me, you won't be out of there till the noon, at least. I know how much you love her and how much you want to be near her, talk to her, listen to her. And I also know how much you want to have her body and soul," Mia smirked, yet again, but this time her smirk had a knowing tint. "Go on now, Romeo."

When I didn't move, she took her sunglasses off and gave me one of her most dangerous looks. "What the heck are you waiting for?! You should be with her by now, enjoying her company! Go, now!"

I smiled. I knew she was right and that she was partly kidding now and I thanked her for it. She was really a live-savior. I opened the door and grabbed my bag in my hand stronger. I looked at her one last time this day and nodded my head, smiling.

"Thank you, sis," I said quietly.

"Yeah, sure, anytime, now go before I kick you up that stairs!"

"No whishing good luck?" I asked cheekily, knowing this was the last button to push for me today.

She didn't answered, just lowered her head and glared at me the way that could turn even the most courageous being in this world into small, scared bundle.

"Okay, okay, I'm going! Bye, sis," I smiled, got of the car and closed the door behind me. As soon as I did that, the car moved and a few seconds later, Mia was gone. I turned to high building. Knowing this is my death, I stepped towards it, gripping my bag so tightly my knuckles gone white.

Yumi's flat was at the third floor. I was too nervous, so took it up the stairs, elevator would only shorten my time to think about what I will say to her. I dubbed that ordinary 'Hallo, how are you?' would do the trick. The way up didn't calm me down, and when I knocked at her door, I wanted nothing but run and hide somewhere like a little child, scared of dark. After a while, I heard faint footsteps approaching the door from the other side, then a key clicked in its lock and door opened. There she was, her gorgeous body hidden only by white towel, as well as her hair. Her expression was calm at first, but it quickly changed to shocked one. She just stood there, in her doorway, staring at me like she just seen me for the first time. She was so cute it made me smile.

"Hi," I said quietly, every rational thought flew out of my head. I was left only with my instincts, and that was never good. Every time that happened, I had to deal with really bad things, like, for example, explaining to Mia why her car was parked in a column near her flat, almost year ago, when I wanted to take Yumi for a little ride and Odd took my car. It was fine, till Yumi stepped out of the car in front of this building, leaving me alone. Yeah, that was really bad time.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the plain, heading for Iraq by now?" she asked, looking at my uniform, still shocked.

"Yeah, I should," I shrugged, letting her look at my fully packed bag. "But I couldn't leave."

"Why?"

I just smiled, looking right into her beautiful eyes, loosing myself in them, just like every time I looked there. I didn't know if it was good, but I liked the feeling. "May I come in?"

She stepped away, letting me pass through the door, then she closed it behind me, locking it again.

"Sorry for my- ehm – clothing, but you came in wrong time. Few minutes later would be better…" she shuttered, looking at her bare legs. I looked at it too, smiling at how her skin shone with the water-drops. It looked smooth and I suddenly wondered how her skin would taste like.

"I think I came in right time," I said cheekily, smirking a boyish smirk. "Just a few minutes earlier and I would think you don't want to see me."

"I always want to see you," she said swiftly, looking at me. After that her eyes widened, her cheeks turning that cute shade of pink I always adored. "…since we are friends," she added quickly. There was just small pause between those words, but I heard it and smiled at it.

I didn't say anything, just looked her in the eyes, still smiling. I couldn't take my eyes away from her dark orbs, beautiful, deep, sensitive, full of panic and something more that I couldn't read, her eyes were just perfect.

"Want some tea?" she asked after what felt like eternity.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

"Just let me change, first," she said, quickly running off to direction of her bedroom. I felt disappointment curled in my chest, I liked her with just that towel on, her skin still wet from shower. But when she came back, my disappointment disappeared. She was wearing just a black, tight top with thin straps that showed off the skin of her arms and shoulders and hugged her torso just perfectly, and matching black shorts, that ended in the middle of her thighs, so her skin was exposed. I licked my lips, thinking of how could her skin taste like and if it was as soft and perfect as it looked like.

"So, how is Mia? She was supposed to come here after she drove you to airport, that's why I thought I could take a shower…" she smiled a bit, as she prepared a tea in two cups. I watched her from behind, admiring how beautifully she moved, with smoothness and elegance, as if she danced. It was natural to her, she did it as long as I can remember. "But seeing you instead was a big surprise. Will she come here to pick you up?"

"She's fine. A bit moody today, but fine," I said with smile, remembering how had Mia acted earlier. She was really complicated, even more than Yumi. Sometimes she could turn from self-confident virago to shy sweetheart in almost no-time. "She will come here, but if she was telling the truth, it will be tomorrow afternoon."

"Why?" Yumi asked, turning to me with confused look.

My cheeks instantly turned red and my head fell down, to hide embarrassment at memories of what Mia told me earlier. "Don't have a slightest idea," I lied, praying she wouldn't notice my face or my crotch.

Yumi just shrugged, for my big relief, then took two steaming cups into her hands and gave one of them to me. I nodded my head to thank her, then brought my cup to my nose. Tea smelled like sakura tree and cherry blossoms and my mouth watered at that scent. I felt similar scent from Yumi, although there was also faint scent of vanilla, roses and lilies around her.

"Smells really good," I said, smelling liquid again, than slowly sipping from it once. "And tastes great too."

She smiled and went off towards her living-room, nodding her head for me to follow her. "Thanks. It's from Japan, my brother sends it to me every month. I love it from the first time I drunk it."

I smiled at that, sitting at sofa, Yumi sitting next to me, our shoulders brushing. It felt strange, her small, soft body pressed up against mine, although I couldn't feel much from it, I was still wearing my jacked. She leaned on me a bit more, then she just lifted her cup and sipped from it silently. I looked at her, seeing only her short black hair. She let it the way it was twelve years ago, and I liked it. It was soft and smelled like lilies and vanilla. I bent my head a bit, just to smell her hair and I closed my eyes at her scent. It was sweet, mouth-watering scent and it made me want to embrace her and never let her go. I lifted my hand a bit, gently, careful not to make her slop her tea, and I warped it around her shoulders. She curled up a bit into my chest, lifting her legs to sofa, complacently slipping her tea.

"Say, why didn't you take the plane to Iraq? Why, when you went all the way through that hard training and everything, why aren't you fighting for your country?" she asked suddenly, looking into her cup. I frowned at that, normally, when she'd given me a question, she'd looked right into my eyes so she could make sure I wasn't lying to her. Why would she ignore that habit of hers now?

"I…" I started, still undecided whether tell her or not. I wished to tell her when I was supposed to go to airport, but now I would rather be fighting and killing people. She still wasn't looking at me and I didn't know if it made me more or less nervous. "It's a strange story, actually."

"I'm listening."

"Well, I was pretty sure I wanted to join the war, but… When I and Mia were driving to the airport, she turned the radio on, and there was a song… I don't know how it's called but it was about a guy, who joined in a war and it changed him. He did horrible things, killed people, killed woman who wanted to surrender. I knew I couldn't take that plane just then, so I told her," I said quietly. Yumi noted her head, then sipped another gulp of her tea.

"You always wanted to be a hero. This was your big chance, you would be a hero because you'd kill people and help save France."

"I would rather be a hero to my wife and children for being good husband and father, than be a hero to France and murder to families and friends of those I kill."

"So, there's a woman in this, too? That's why you didn't want to go to Iraq?" she asked, finally looking at me. Her eyes were full of surprise and suspicion. I could see something else in it, too, but I didn't know what it was.

"Mostly. She is the reason why I wanted to and didn't want to go. That woman means the most to me in this world. I couldn't just leave her," I said quietly, looking her dead in her eyes, slowly nearing closer to her face. She was still leaning against me, but somehow she could face me. I wondered how flexible she was and how much positions she could put herself in. It made me lick my lips. That's when I realized how close we actually were, I could kiss her, if I leaned down a little bit more… "I couldn't just leave you," I whispered, then gently put my lips over hers.

At first, neither of us moved. But when I dared to open my mouth and nibble at her lower lip, something snapped. I couldn't tell when I kissed her full on the mouth or when she started to respond. I knew only that I had her, curled up in my lap, that I was kissing her slowly, sweetly, one of my hands in her short black hair, the other caressing her skin, pulling her closer to me, our tea cups forgotten on table.

When we pulled apart, we both were gasping for the air, looking into each other eyes. She wanted a proper explanation, but I couldn't give her that. I didn't know how to tell her all my feelings. I was never good with words and this time, I cursed myself for that.

Yumi just smiled a bit, her face red. She leaned her head in the crook of my neck, her palms at my chest. Still breathing heavily, she started to laugh.

"What?" I asked, laughing a bit myself.

"It's funny how long it took us to get here," she said, laughing.

"Not really," I smirked. "When I think about all those years I could have you… It's really long time that we have to make up for."

"I guess we should get started then," she said seductively, a faint laugh still in her voice. She lifted her head from my shoulder and kissed me sweetly. She tasted like vanilla, cherry and something that I could only describe as her. It was so sweet I got addicted to it in seconds.

Our kisses got faster and more passionate by minutes and I noticed a faint moans coming out of her mouth every now and then. When I realized it was me making her make sounds like that, I couldn't help but wanted to hear more. I slowly left her lips and moved to her neck. Once again, my instincts took over and I automatically found her pulse point and sucked, making sure she will have a hickey.

"Marking me already?" Yumi asked in quiet, a bit husky voice that sounded a bit like soft mewling.

"Of course," I said, smirking. "You are mine and mine only. Nobody else is allowed to touch you, not even look at you for too long. I want everybody to know you belong to me."

"Do you realize I'll have to wear a scarf over it?" she asked, laughing a little.

"Then you'll have to wear it constantly, because I'm not letting that mark fade away from your skin, never ever," I said stubbornly as I raised my head to be eye-level with her.

"So, now I'm your property?"

"No," I shook my head, staring right into her eyes. "You are the love of my life and I'm never letting you go."


End file.
